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Good signs for the economy

I don't want to be too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but attendance here at PSA-TEC is better than I expected, with maybe 10 fewer booths than last year, and all of a sudden all of the noise coming out of the corporate world isn't bad.
This (can't remember if you have to register to see that link) might seem like non-news, but UTC's simple reaffirmation that it's not going to do worse than it thought in 2009, is good news to me.
The last time I wrote about them, it was because things were worse than they expected and they were forced to change course. Now, things haven't gotten worse, they think they've got a handle on it, and there's going to be earnings per share of $4 or better. It wouldn't shock me if they didn't even cut all of the jobs they were expecting to cut.
With other reports about how the housing and construction markets are thinking about turning around, and Bernanke talking about "hopeful signs," it seems like 2009 might not be a total wash.
Maybe the credit crisis made 4Q 2008 tank, the super bad 4Q made 1Q 2009 totally bottom out, but people saw that they were just being irrational, they're watching the stock market creep back up, and they're opening their wallets a bit now.
That's the theory I'm going with in the short term.
Oops, show floor just opened here - better go talk to people.

This blog, by Paul Ragusa, the editor of Security Systems News, offers thoughts, news, and a forum for discussion for those who work in and around the physical security industry, integrating and installing security systems in North America.